360° Plus

The Leadership Trust®’s 360° Plus Feedback Process

…because it’s more than just a 360° Feedback

Why Feedback Anyway?

If you don’t know, you can’t fix, and what you don’t know can and, in fact, does hurt you. Whether or not you give yourself the opportunity to learn others’ perceptions of you through this highly comprehensive feedback process, their perceptions nevertheless still exist; therefore, you’d rather know than not know. Furthermore, if you are afraid of what you may learn about yourself, again you’d rather know than not know. It therefore makes sense to find out, as it is the only way that you can actually do something about it. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting; therefore, the gift of feedback lets you know what others appreciate in you and want you to keep doing, what new behaviors you may want to start doing, and which ones may be holding you and others back. Often times some people – not all – have some kind of idea of what they may be doing that others may not like, but often times these same people are surprised at the degree to which they are being perceived as demotivating and demoralizing. Actually that’s a good thing not to know that last piece, because it may suggest a certain lack of empathy. Once you embrace your feedback, research shows you can anticipate within 21-30 days new or tweaked behaviors that inspire, motivate, value and grow others. That’s the ultimate in people skills. It is leadership at its best.

Traditional 360° Feedback

Any competent leadership organization is going to offer a 360° feedback process. How it is done can make the difference between the recipient doing or not doing a 180°, which for many organizations represents the beginning of their much needed culture change. After all, when enough people change in the intended direction that honors one’s mission and vision while fostering growth, a positive culture change is not only inevitable but also evident.

Our 360°-Plus Feedback Process

We go beyond the traditional 360° feedback process and thus the name 360°-Plus Feedback. Because 360 degrees represents a circle, the traditional feedback process elicits feedback within this context and therefore seeks to hear from people over you, beside you, and under you. The Plus aspect of our feedback process entails a more comprehensive feedback system such that one can expect more robust data and therefore a more pointed and compelling interpretation. Picture the difference between an MRI and a CAT scan, and you’ll appreciate the Plus difference.

The 3 dimensions of Plus that distinguish our process and results:

Online Data collection: We collect data beyond the company to include family, friends, vendors, clients – really any stakeholder in your life including yourself. We work closely with our participants and/or the person responsible for registering them to ensure we’ve been appropriately inclusive. When family and friends are included, the participant’s response is strikingly different, and subsequently creates a receptivity to workplace feedback that otherwise would not happen. It also explains why so many of the video and signature testimonials speak to personal as well as professional takeaways.

The feedback instrument: The Leadership Trust® uses an instrument that is designed to determine comprehensively 3 things: a) a highly precise description of what is working as well as what needs to be changed including specific examples of the nature of the target person’s implicit and explicit behaviors, b) the nature of the impact on those affected by the target person’s behaviors – both what they are doing or not doing; as such, this helps the participants walk away with a clear picture of how they make others feel and react, and c) the impact on the organization (e.g., low morale, lowered productivity, missed opportunities).Instruments that are considered highly comprehensive must be tailored (i.e., personalized) to each person’s unique situation. One way in which we accomplish this is through an open-ended format, which avoids information slippage. Likert Scales (instruments that employ strongly agree to strongly agree) do not always cover the content the respondent wishes to address. Feedback is anonymous, and this helps the respondents answer in a more forthright manner.

The process of delivery: Our doctoral-level facilitators then use a process that drives the actual feedback to a subconscious level where the mechanisms of permanent positive change are housed. This helps the target individual experience themselves through others’ eyes.

If we told you the process of delivery that we use, we’d have to kill you! All humor aside, knowing in advance would contaminate an otherwise optimal experience, but suffice it to say that frequently we hear from our graduates that it was this process that gave them the ability to see themselves through others’ experience of them. As such, they also find this process helping them envision clearly how to take it out there and make it work.

This process does evoke an emotion on an internal and private level, and because change does not take place without an accompanying emotion, it is a foolproof process for launching transformation. If you wish to read about the nature and degree of the transformation, visit the video and signature testimonials.

We put a lot of value in creating a safe environment where each person feels his or her dignity has been honored. As such, participants tend to receive their feedback without a defensive posture or need for to retaliate. This has long been a part of The Leadership Trust®’s reputation, and thus decision makers can send those they wish to grow without reservation.

Final Words on the Transformation Process:

The medical model in the healthcare industry upholds the premise that one must have a clear understanding of the problem (diagnosis via multiple assessments) before you can formulate a clear action plan (treatment plan). The Leadership Trust® embraces the medical model including the need to get at root cause rather than just the symptoms of ineffective leadership. While change can take place without knowing the root cause, human beings are extremely curious about what makes them and others tick, and finding that out provides a heightened motivation to change the behavior that is holding them, others and their organization back. There are two reasons most people do not change: (a) it is not clear to them what exactly they must do differently, and (b) they have not made a fundamental change within themselves to support whatever the new behaviors require. Thus, The Leadership Trust® has zeroed in on the best practices for not only the instrument itself but also the best process for driving the material to a level where motivation and change manifest. We then expose the participant to processes throughout the course of the leadership program to further support change that feels more natural so that upon their return, there isn’t the self-consciousness of putting out what most people would describe as contrived or scripted behaviors. These processes attest to the notion that nobody can go to the next higher level without going to the next deeper level. The Leadership Trust® has put into place various conditions and ground rules to optimize your workshop experience and outcome while simultaneously addressing your feedback concerns. The degree to which you follow the program format (before, during, and after the workshop) represents the degree to which you can expect to leave with a testimonial that represents a manifold ROI. With that in mind, you should expect us to exceed your workshop objectives. We literally guarantee it.

Changed me from the inside out. Has made me aware of what life is really about. I am a better leader and a better person for completing this workshop.

John D. JacobsManager - Strategic Manufacturing, Abbott Laboratories

When I compare this workshop to other professional and personal development programs I have attended, this workshop is the best by so much more than I can put into words. I feel like this week of my life ranks in the top 5 life-changing events of my existence. The transformation in my ability to connect […]

Chris RaglinProgram Manager , Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.

This workshop was a moving, eye-opening, mind-opening experience that will create in me the tools and abilities to be my best. It will make me a more effective leader, and a better father and husband.

W.R.W. IIRegional Transaction Director, Wells Fargo

If you want to see a direct relationship between increased trust and improved bottom line, The Leadership Trust® has an intellectual property like a fool-proof recipe. I could actually experience a profound change within each of my team members and thus my senior management team, which ultimately created a culture change, the latter of which […]